The American Dream

George Tiller was murdered in his church.  Tiller was wearing a bullet-proof flak-jacket when he was shot, point-blank in the head. The physician, who became a symbol for the abortion rights movement, and one of the few who continued to perform late-term abortions, was killed while his wife was singing in the church choir. Tiller's death is a tragedy, not only because he was shot and killed in his place of worship, or because now he has a family who will miss him. His death is a tragedy because it illustrates how little progress our nation has made in its never-ending abortion debate. Can nothing be solved without a gun? Are we so lost, so utterly and completely embedded in our differences, that we cannot simply talk? Tiller's medical practices made even many pro-abortion advocates uncomfortable. Late-term abortions have a brutality about them that make even those who would agree with Tiller's views shudder. While many do not condone late-term abortions, Tiller practiced them well within the realm of the law.  Tiller's clinic, and his life, have been threatened in the past, and he was not new to the dangers of his work. Yet, for some reason, he went about them anyway. Was it because he loved to cause harm to unborn children? Was it because he found some kind of unspeakable joy in his work? Doubtful. It is more likely that Tiller believed he was doing the work of a good doctor. Nothing in his life warranted cold, vigilante justice from a cowardly assault in his church. For those who practice, church is supposed to be a place of safety, worship, forgiveness, and love. Tiller instead found hatred and violence. Tiller was gunned down by a man who, like Tiller, was a practicing Lutheran. What has this murderer accomplished?  He has killed Tiller, who some anti-abortion activists have labeled as a "mass murderer." Has he stopped abortion? No. In a recent statement, the gunman Roeder, who did not admit guilt in the slaying of Tiller, did say that he believed that the closing of Tiller's clinic is a "victory for all the unborn children." The murder of a doctor, in his church has been boiled down to a good thing, nay, even a victory, in the eyes of Roeder. Now that the clinic has closed, every dangerous warrior for the unborn, armed with their gun and righteous anger, will be empowered by the notion that yes, violence is the answer. Forget argument and legislation, do away with debate and compromise and reason, grab your weapon and bring your own personal brand of vigilante justice. The loss of Tiller is a crushing tragedy because his death has not changed a thing. Abortion will not come to an end because of the violent end of one of its figureheads. Anti-abortion advocates will not suddenly tremble in fear and withdraw from the public debate. All this event lead to was the loss of a doctor, and a nation left reeling. We haven't learned a thing. We haven't learned that simply taking the lives of those that we can't agree with changes nothing. The abortion debate is far from over, and foolish attempts to simply kill what we can't understand, agree with, or forgive, will do nothing to end the argument.